Like Matt, I don’t have problems with Windows: it does what I say and nothing I don’t. That takes a level of vigilance that I’ve proudly embedded but lately feels masturbatory. Most of this world turns on things that PCs can produce, on end products and daily systems — that’s what the overwhelming majority is concerned with. We have today’s systems and networks because of demand for end products, not to satisfy the tech ego.

There’s an old Devo song that claims “Freedom of choice is what you’ve got; freedom from choice is what you want.” OS X with FreeBSD under the hood seems to deliver a straightforward, productive environment for most folks and endless horizons for me. And there’s always VirtualPC.

Hey, I’ll always have a Windows box, yet I think a smart guy also has a Mac. This guy will soon, and I’ll probably start recommending that my friends and relatives budget an extra 300 bucks on their next PC purchase and just get a Mac. For what they want, they’ll be happier. It seems that every significant Windows usability enhancement comes with a privacy sacrifice. Maybe Apple would behave similarly in Microsoft’s position, but that doesn’t matter because it’s not the case and won’t be any time soon. Right now, Apple’s better tuned to the frequencies that matter to the folks I need to help.

LQ

My problem is bizarre, and I can’t find any information on it. Even on a brand new install of XP, it does this. What it does is randomly not start right away. I can click the icon, it can be running in task manager, but take 10 minutes to bring a window up. Sometimes it pops up right away.

I can’t trace it to software of any sort…cause it does it all the time, no matter what’s running. I think I will just stick with using MediaCenter for managing the iPod, actually playing the music and ripping, and Anapod for dealing with the iPod in the main GUI of windows..

What I can tell you is this. Think of how much time you spend tweaking your Windows machine–futzing with the registry, re-formatting/resizing partitions, re-installing the OS, installing and reinstalling drivers to keep up with the latest releases. Divide that by 10 and that’s how much time you will spend performing the equivalent tasks on a Mac.

Then figure out how long your PC lasts, even assuming that you keep upgrade until the technology is totally obsolete. Typically you’re talking 3-4 years, 5 tops. Multiply that by 2 and that’s how long your Mac will last. I’m still using a Mac that I purchased in ’96 and there’s no end in sight for how long it will be functional.

In case you haven’t guessed, I’m a big Mac fan (as opposed to a Big Mac fan).

Having said that, guess what–I spend most of my time on Windows. And not just because of the excessive hours required to keep it running smoothly. For me it’s all about compatibility and the availability of software I need to do my job. Like it or not, my corner of the universe is 99% Windows and I finally got tired of bucking the trend and trying defend being “better, but different”.

I understand there are other worlds where the Mac is king. Graphics and multi-media come to mind. But if you really enjoy living on the edge, you might give Linux a try. You’re still on an Intel box, must of your software will port over.

NBA Live 1996 might be coming out for the Mac sometime soon, so that’s another plus to get the Mac.

AWESOME! I laughed heavily on that one!

3 days, 19 hours, 33 minutes, 17 seconds until Panther. Yum.

NBA Live 1996 might be coming out for the Mac sometime soon, so that’s another plus to get the Mac.

I didn’t choose the option during my installation, I checked a box in the preferences. The checkbox is labeled “Keep iTunes Music folder organized” which is very innocuous-sounding compared to what it actually does, which is move everything around.

Anyway, what a strange coincidence that you (Jay) asked about organizing music. I’ve just posted an entry about it!

Right now I have everything that isn’t from a ripped album (or individual tracks for that matter) in one folder, and it gets really bulky.

Tips, please? Oh. That evangelist is still here?

Being the genius that I am, I set my existing directory of mp3s as iTunes’ music directory (in the preferences), and then imported it. It decided to ‘clean up’ the music directory according to the existing metadata in the files, and basically fubar’ed the existing organizational scheme without asking. I have spent the last 24 hours fighting with the metadata gods to try to put my collection back into some semblance of order. I’m afraid that I’m just going to have to purge several thousand files and rip them again.

Oh, and as far as the OS wars go, I finally ditched the MacOS on my old Wallstreet Powerbook about two months ago. OS X was too slow, but Yellow Dog Linux ran just fine. I guess it’s all about what works for best for the individual user.

Anyway, thank you for the kind words — Weird thing about those tracks that crash iTunes, I have a few things that I’m personally not too happy about, but overall I think it’s a cool product. I think I’ll be posting a review of sorts later today.

No luck getting the remote to work with it though, though my multimedia keyboard worked great.

Sadly, this does not work with a standard distribution of Winamp. I use WMP because it works well with the CMSS technology that comes with the SBE. (As for tagging my mp3s I just use Musicmatch.)

Anyway, does iTunes work with the CMSS feature? I’m not going to use that if not.

Ohkay, maybe the Windows OS is sufficiently stable, with those monthly viruses being produced for it, but Mac OS X is infinitely more stable.

Viruses coming out all the time don’t make my systems any less stable. I have protections in place in way of firewalls, anti-virus software, and common sense and have never been infected. Like spam, viruses are a problem that effect people without the proper software to prevent them.

I have seen an iMac that has been running day in and day out with no problems for about a year.

I have seen Windows boxes run just as long, and Linux and FreeBSD boxes running for several times that. I’ve also seen Powerbooks with terrible hardware problems and requiring reboots daily if not more. Does that mean it’s an unstable platform? I’m not going to hold possibly buggy software against it, but at the same time don’t try to sell me a rose colored picture of an OS that never crashes. It does. I’ve seen it.

Have fun waiting until 2006 for your next big upgrade, while we are only waiting 8 days

Thanks, I will.

(2) it would only mess up track information if your music does not have the standard ID3 tags on them.

About 30 gigabytes of MP3 files ripped any time between last week and 5 years ago. Some of them have older versions of ID3 that don’t have track information. Some of them have wrong information. I’m the first to admit that.

What are you talking comparable quality? Macintoshes last longer and cost a bit more, instead of having to buy a new PC in half of a Mac’s life time, adding up to more money.

Or do people keep them longer because they cost more? I don’t buy this argument one bit. One of my friends (Kel) kept his Mac forever but quite honestly it was simply that he couldn’t afford a full upgrade and he was prepared to accept lower levels of user experience than I would. I upgrade frequently because I can, not because I have to. Just like you upgrade your OS frequently, right? OS X, for all its merits, is not by far the speediest operating system I’ve used, and that was on a relatively recent machine. I wouldn’t want it on a 3-year-old iMac and I wouldn’t want to run OS 9 under any circumstances.

Have you ever going to an Apple Store and used and seen and tried a Mac?

Of course, I don’t live under a rock. Apple stores are beautiful, as are their products. Just because I made a decision concerning something that you disagree with please don’t assume it’s because I’m ignorant. That’s the worst kind of evangelism your platform needs.

What are you talking comparable quality? Macintoshes last longer and cost a bit more, instead of having to buy a new PC in half of a Mac’s life time, adding up to more monét…

Have you ever going to an Apple Store and used and seen and tried a Mac?